Launch of American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease

[摘要] Neurodegenerative diseases are chronic, progressive neurological disorders associated with neuronal loss of specific populations of neurons in the brain or spinal cord, or both. The most common neurodegenerative diseases are Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). There are a large number of less common neurodegenerative disorders. Most of these disorders have a significant impact on the healthcare of the elderly, which is the segment of the population that is most often affected. On the other hand, some neurodegenerative disorders, in particular frontotemporal lobar degenerations and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, afflict younger adults in the prime of their lives. The most common clinical presentations are dementia, movement disorders, and motor neuron disease, but the clinical phenotypes are diverse, and there is increasing recognition of overlap in these clinical phenotypes within and between diagnostic entities. Characterization of biochemical changes in brain and spinal cord tissue has lead to a proposed molecular classification scheme for neurodegenerative diseases [1], but disease mechanisms that are shared by a range of neurodegenerative disorders [2,3] continue to challenge even the most up-to-date classification scheme.

[学科分类] 精神健康和精神病学